Football and Music

I was saddened to read the following article via Soccernet this morning. Sir Bobby is a battler and I thought he would have won this one too.

Sir Bobby admits defeat in battle against cancer

Former England manager Sir Bobby Robson has admitted he will lose his battle with lung cancer ’sooner rather than later’.

Robson has been battling a fifth bout of the illness and has accepted doctors’ prognosis that he is unlikely to beat it.

Speaking to The Sun, he said: ‘I have accepted what they have told me and I am determined to make the most of what time I have left.

‘I am going to die sooner rather than later. But then everyone has to go some time, and I have enjoyed every minute.

‘I have been fortunate to survive this long. It is thanks to the doctors and their dedication.’

Sir Bobby, who took England to the brink of a World Cup final in Italy in 1990, has enjoyed a football career spanning six decades - from playing days with Fulham and England, to managerial triumphs first with Ipswich and then as national coach at two World Cups, to continental coaching appointments.

He later returned to his native north-east to take over at Newcastle and most recently spent a short time as consultant for the Republic of Ireland.

» Full article

- Here is the legend accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year last December:

- TWTD : An independent website for news and views about Ipswich Town has set up a poll and somebody has started a campaign to get the North Stand named after Sir Bobby.

- You can vote in the poll and sign the petition but what would be a more fitting act right now is to donate to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation via the Justgiving page

I can understand Wrighty’s sentiments about not wanting to sit on the sofa next to Hansen and Shearer anymore. I mean come on, not exactly sparkling company are they. But with the Beeb losing nearly every televisual rights to any decent footballing matches, (apart from the Jewson Home Counties under 14’s Sunday League), Ian Wright Wright Wright wasn’t going to get to see Gary’s smirking face up close ever again because he only sat in on Auntie’s coverage of the England matches and since we are sitting this one out…

But let us not forget that the original jug eared one was a decent footie player in his day.

In his time at Leicester he was constantly the top league scorer. In 194 appearance for the club Lineker bagged 95 goals and helped to get them promoted to the old First Division and afterwards got sold to…

No not yet. Later..

Everton. Where in that one season he scored 40 in 52 games and again become the leagues top scorer. Then he went into the shop window that was the 1986 World Cup where yet again he became the top scorer of the tournament.

Everton cashed in on him and after the finals was sold to El Tel’s Barcelona where he partnered Sparky Hughes up front. Eventually Lineker followed Venables to his next job at Spurs where when the year ended in 1 and despite Gazza’s antics, they won the FA Cup.

Finally he went off into semi-retirement and was a proto-Beckham where he explored and was introduced into new territories playing for Grampus 8 in Japan. Sadly it was an injury plagued season which led to his decision to hang up his boots before eventually finding the anchors chair and lulling us all to sleep on a late Saturday’s evening.

Here endeth the history of Leicester’s favourite son™

Now to the music and hat-trick of songs. Two of them from studio created groups and one with a tenuous connection since he played in that league:

» Romaine - Gary Lineker : A Young Girls Dream » The Rainbow Choir - The J-League Freakout » Her - Ooh Gary Gary

For those of you who haven’t checked the calendar, today is St. Georges Day.

St George is not just England, but of Georgia and Moscow too. The above pic is from a World War II memorial in Moscow.

I wanted to find some appropriate music to go with this day. Thanks to the England teams various efforts (in the recording studio that is) there are a few to choose from.

But I also wanted to find something else, some non-footie&musical songs that are not jingoistic but still is a celebration of England and all things English.

So three variations on a theme starting with…

Traditional:

» And did those feet in ancient time…     Lyrics/info

I know Fat Les did a “version” of this, which you can listen to via the Jukebox.
Even though I’m not all religious I find this hymn to be very stirring.

- Next we have a folk song:

» Ralph McTell - England

You know him, he’s the bloke who did Streets Of London.

Lastly an obvious one which I think is the third outing on F&M now:

» 1970 England Squad - Oh Sweet England

Extra Time - a reposting of some England desktop wallpapers I did. Click on the image to view the full image and then do the business to set it as your wallpaper:

Bonus link - The Chariots of Fire soundtrack.
(Has a version of Jerusalem with Vangelis music over it)

Don’t say I don’t give you owt ;)

Yesterday it was a song sung about him. Today it is songs sung by him.

Before the World Cup holders went to Mexico they were ushered into the studio to record an album which involved the players covering some popular tunes of the day.

The 1970 England Football Squad - “The World Beaters Sing The World Beaters“. If you ever see that album on ebay buy it. It’s available on that link to eil.com there right now, they have 1 copy at £40.00. The cover was a cut out round football shaped sleeve with full colour photographs from the 1966 squad and on the front cover autographs from the 1970 team. A rare and very collectable item.

It was repackaged and re-released on CD a few years back as: Sing ! - Jeff Astle & The 1970 England World Cup Squad”

So from that album a cover version of the 1969 number 1 hit Sugar Sugar by the Archies, done by Bobby with Francis Lee getting in there on the last verse:

» Bobby Moore and Friends - Sugar Sugar

- and since the England are playing a friendly against France in Paris in a few hours, a repost of what I originally thought was the 1982 World Cup team singing it, but I found out later that it was the 1970 squad:

» 1970 England Squad - Oh Sweet England

“C’mon England !”

This is the first post of a few that will remember the legend that was Sir Bobby Moore.

I know he wasn’t knighted when he was alive, but that was the fault of the powers that be who only realised their mistake after his passing and made up for it by giving a gong to Geoff Hurst. So why not award him a knighthood posthumously eh ?

Today though it is a look at a bit of trouble for Sir Bobby (which I’ll call him from here on it because as I said he deserved it) when just before the ‘70 World Cup he was accused of nicking a bit of jewellery.

A quick reminder of the event via Wikipedia:

“1970 was a bittersweet, mixed and eventful one for Moore. He was again named as captain for the 1970 World Cup but there was heavy disruption to preparations when an attempt was made to implicate Moore in the theft of a bracelet from a jeweller in Bogotá, Colombia, where England were involved in a warm-up game. A young assistant had claimed that Moore had removed the bracelet from the hotel shop without paying for it. There was no doubt that Moore was in the shop - he had gone in with Bobby Charlton to look for a gift for Charlton’s wife, Norma - the accusation was not proved. Moore was arrested and then released, he then travelled with the England team to play another match against Ecuador in Quito. He played, winning his 80th cap, and England were 2-0 victors, but when the team plane stopped back in Colombia on the return to Mexico, Moore was detained and placed under four days of house arrest. Diplomatic pressure, plus the obvious weakness of the evidence, eventually saw the case dropped entirely, and an exonerated Moore returned to Mexico to rejoin the squad and prepare for the World Cup.”

As the article mentions was this a bit of trickery to put Sir Bobby off his game ?
Either way it didn’t work and he was cleared and as it says on this BBC - On This Day page, there were documents released in 2001 and 2003 in which the head of the Colombian police believed Moore was innocent and that the prime suspect was in fact an unnamed woman who had touted the bracelet to members of the Colombian underworld.

They never found the bracelet and never caught the woman.

This Bobby Moore website has a page with collected articles concerning the event.

A band previously mentioned on here, which I discovered thanks to an email from Al, sang about the incident:

» Serious Drinking - Bobby Moore Was Innocent (Peel Session)

and the album version…

» Serious Drinking - 12XU/Bobby Moore Was Innocent